Dead at Daybreak by Deon Meyer

Author:Deon Meyer
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780316027892
Publisher: Little, Brown
Published: 2007-09-02T22:00:00+00:00

31.

They sat in Hope Beneke’s office and he felt the adrenaline, the blood of the chase coursing through him, and for a moment he remembered…

“Jeez, Van Heerden, I still can’t believe you’ve turned out to be such a complete asshole. How could you stab an ex-colleague in the back and manage to disgrace the Force at the same time? All you had to do was to give me a call. Just a single call.”

He held up his hands. He was calm, his head jumping from the telephone call to Military Intelligence, to O’Grady and De Wit and Joubert, his body primed for action, but he had to focus here first. “Okay, Nougat, I know where you’re coming from and you have my sympathy…”

O’Grady’s face twisted in disgust and he began to say something, but Van Heerden went on.

“But just think of the facts for a moment. I had one more clue than you: the false ID. That’s all. The rest is pure conjecture and it’s pretty flimsy. The thing about the dollars was a huge leap of faith and it’s only because I looked at the way the guy set himself up in business with cash, in the early eighties. I have no corroborating evidence. So tell me, do you think your superior officers”—he pointed at De Wit and Joubert—“would have allowed you to go to the newspapers on the strength of that?”

“It’s the fucking principle, Van Heerden.”

“And the damage you did to the reputation of the SAPS, Van Heerden.”

“I’m sorry about that, Col—er… Superintendent, but it was the price I had to pay for the publicity.”

“Sold us down the river for a lousy newspaper story.”

“Bullshit, Nougat. You guys get worse publicity every day of the week because the media see you as a political tool to get at the ANC. Are you going to blame me for that as well?”

“You deliberately withheld information that we could use in the investigation of a murder, Van Heerden.”

“I’m more than prepared to share, Superintendent. But the time isn’t ripe, for obvious reasons.”

“You’re full of shit, Van Heerden.”

“Seventy-six,” said Mat Joubert.

They all stared at him.

“You stopped the Military Intelligence jokers dead in their tracks with ‘seventy-six,’ Van Heerden. What did it mean?”

He should have known Joubert wouldn’t miss a trick.

“First,” he said slowly and in a measured tone, “we’re going to reach an agreement about the sharing of information.”

O’Grady gave a scornful laugh. “Jesus, just listen to him.”

“I don’t think you’re in a position to negotiate,” said Bart de Wit, his voice slightly higher, slightly more nasal.

“Let’s listen to what he suggests,” said Mat Joubert.

“But we can’t trust the motherfucker.”

“Inspector, we’ve spoken about your language before,” said De Wit.

O’Grady blew out his breath loudly. It obviously wasn’t a new topic.

“Superintendent, this is the way I see the situation,” said Van Heerden. “You have the law on your side and you can force me to reveal everything.”

“Indeed,” said Bart de Wit.

“Damn right,” said Nougat O’Grady.

“But you’re also forced to work within the confines of the regulations if you take over the investigation.

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